Illegal telecom exchange busted near north rly stn

Kochi: The Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell, the authority monitoring the operation of telecom providers in the country, busted an illegal exchange functioning at Ernakulam north on Wednesday.

It has also received alerts about the functioning of a few more illegal exchanges in Kochi.

"The firm had been operating from a building near north railway station for over a month. Mohammed Shihab (30) from Pattambi was running the exchange. They rented the room under the cover of a marketing firm,'' said deputy director of TERM cell V Raghunanandan.

"The accused had secured around 120 land phone connections. Using Primary Rate Interface (PRI), international calls would be converted into local calls. In a month, the telephone bills of the firm came to around 4 lakh. So, the profit they generated during the period would be at least Rs 15 lakh,'' he said.

When the officials raided the exchange, there was only a woman employee. She was deployed to attend calls. "Based on our alert, Pattambi police have arrested Shihab. He had plans to increase the number of land phone connections to 350 from 120,'' said V Nizamudeen, circle inspector, north police station.

TERM officials said that a few more such exchanges in Kochi were under scanner.

"Such firms are run by experts in the Middle-East. People without much knowledge about the exchange are deployed to run them. Even if the employee is arrested, investigating agencies will not get any information on people behind the operation,'' sources with TERM cell said.

"An illegal exchange will receive up to one lakh calls and the profit they make would come to around Rs one crore a month,'' he said.

The cell has received alerts on over five such exchanges functioning from Malappuram and one from Kozhikode. Earlier, TERM officials had busted an exchange in Nenmara in Palakkad with the help of local police.

As the calls diverted through these exchanges are not monitored, it poses a threat to national security. "When the illegal exchange at Kadavanthra was busted, we had registered a case. The intelligence bureau is investigating the case,'' said city police commissioner M P Dinesh.

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